Stranger danger, lol

We said goodbye to Guangzhou and our agency group this afternoon. (Although, we will get to see the Morris family at home in Jacksonville )

Reese waved “bye bye” for the first time out the window of our hotel room before we left for the train station. The train ride was about two hours long, and pretty uneventful.

I did get a little sad. It’s bitter sweet to be leaving Guangzhou.
In talking with our guide before we were sent off on our own, he said after we arrived at the train station in Hong kong and we went through customs, ect… We needed to first, get some Hong kong currency, and second, catch a taxi to our hotel. He said we would actually have to get two taxis because of all of our luggage. Which meant it would be twice the cost and Caleb and I would have to split up… I was getting a little worried about that.
I did not want to take a taxi on my own with one or two of our children. I expressed my worry to Caleb, but there was really no other way.
I said a quick prayer to myself and we exited the train station with all of our luggage and three kids in tow, and went to the back of the line to wait for a taxi.
We were quickly approached by an older gentleman who said he had a big van that could fit all of us.
Normally we ignore any person
who approaches us on the streets but, We liked the sound of that. I asked how much. $300 hkd. The two taxis would have cost us around $700. Ok, yes.
As we walked to a parking lot where his van was supposedly parked, Caleb and I were shooting nervous looks back and forth. What are we doing?!
Its night time, and we are about to get into a strange vehicle with a strange man and pray that he just takes us to where we need to go. We wouldn’t know any different if he headed in the wrong direction. We’ve never been to Hong Kong before.
As we waited to cross the street, I checked my spirit. I wasn’t feeling like we were in danger… At least not yet.
We approached his rickety old van and he opened the back door to put our luggage in. We all piled in the back, and he got in on the right side. That is the drivers side in Hong Kong.

Caleb and I watched for airport signs along the road to make sure he was taking us in the right direction. We quietly discussed how at the first sign of anything “off” the girls and I would jump out of the moving van and run… yeah, that was the genius plan. Lol
I mean, I guess you could say we didn’t quite trust this man we knew absolutely nothing about. Go figure.

I looked at Caleb at one point and said..”our parents would flip!”
If they knew we had gotten in a strange van, with a strange man, in a strange country with their precious grandchildren…. We would be in BIG trouble. That goes against everything they ever taught us when we were kids.

Once we could tell he was going the right way, we relaxed a little. Somehow, in the craziness of it all, it actually worked out great. The man was kind, and we even gave him an extra $100 hkd for not being a murderer. Lol
So we made it:) Don’t worry nana, papa, and meme. We are in Hong Kong, and we are very tired Goodnight.